


Disaster

by SlytherinOwl



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, First Kiss, Happy Ending, One Shot, Rare Pairings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:23:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22800052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlytherinOwl/pseuds/SlytherinOwl
Summary: Their first kiss was a disaster.And for Cormac the fact that he had tried to kiss her and she was genuinely disgusted by him was way worse than any detention Snape could have given him for vomiting on his shoes.Written for Hermione's Haven - Haven Awards 2020
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Cormac McLaggen
Comments: 17
Kudos: 90
Collections: Haven Awards Writing Comp





	Disaster

**Author's Note:**

> My prompt was: Their first kiss was a disaster.
> 
> Lots of love to my beta!

Their first kiss was a disaster.

But how could it not have been?

While Hermione Granger had known Cormac McLaggen – mostly by his reputation – for several years the first time she was forced to pay attention to him was during the Quidditch trials in her sixth year. The first words she heard from him were his complaints about Ron and Ginny.

It was only natural that she was not his biggest fan after the trials.

But then, it would have been mutual if he had known she had _confounded_ him to ensure he would not get the position on the team.

While the start to their acquaintanceship was already bad, it did not _exactly_ get better.

At least not for Hermione.

* * *

Ron drove her up the walls.

She had only asked him if he would like to join her at the stupid party Slughorn was throwing! And instead he laughed at her and suggested she should go with McLaggen, of all possible people.

When Hermione had calmed down after her fight with Ron her slightly vicious side came through though. She was absolutely sure that Ron would hate her actually being anywhere near McLaggen.

So of course, she did the reasonable thing – asked him to go to Slughorn’s party with her.

* * *

“Excuse me?” The young woman asked politely.

Cormac looked up from where he had been working on an essay for Snape’s DADA classes.

Hermione Granger was standing right behind him, a pleasant yet slightly strained smile on her face.

“Yes?”

“Would you like to go to Slughorn’s Christmas party with me?” Hermione was calm and collected.

Cormac on the other hand was dumbfounded.

“Uh, sure?” He uttered, and Hermione nodded, thanked him, and walked off again.

The Gryffindor continued to stare at the place where she had been standing seconds before he shook himself out of it.

That had really happened. How peculiar.

He was fully aware that most Gryffindors did not quite like him. He was loud, brash, and had a tendency to talk a lot. Especially when he was nervous. And maybe he had an anger issue or two.

But of all the people to not care about these things, Hermione Granger had not even come up on his list. He had not expected to be her type.

Cormac shrugged. Who was he to complain about a pretty witch – he had seen her at the Yule Ball, after all – wanting him as a date?

* * *

While Hermione’s delivery had been short and on the point, her insides were not happy. Her stomach was clenched and she could feel the muscles tensing up as if to punish her for using McLaggen to get back at Ron.

Or maybe they were already sensing that this date with a person she already deemed unlikable was a patently stupid idea to begin with.

* * *

The Christmas party eventually came around.

Hermione’s mind had already drifted off to rather drastic measures to flee from the mess that was this party – she was currently eyeing the wooden skewers that were used for some of the desserts – when her attention slipped.

Suddenly McLaggen, who had been talking without a single break about how great he was and how much he loved Quidditch, stopped talking.

Before she could relish the bliss though, she suddenly felt his lips on her.

“Ew!” Hermione exclaimed against McLaggen’s lips and pushed him rather violently away from her.

Her lips were now wet, and she had the rather rude desire to wipe her mouth.

“How did you get the idea –“ But she cut herself off. She couldn't care less, she just knew that she had to get away from him. The feeling of just having received the worst possible kiss was overwhelming and uncomfortable.

Thus she missed McLaggen vomiting right on Professor Snape’s rather expensive shoes.

It was a sight that she was genuinely sorry to have missed.

* * *

Cormac was frustrated and confused.

When he had picked Hermione up, she seemed to not be looking forward to the evening.

She was barely sparing him a glance, and the less she participated in the conversation, the more he felt the need to talk.

He was _nervous_.

He was not sure why, but the feeling was unpleasant and burned sharply in his stomach.

Hermione was clearly not though, quite the opposite, she seemed completely disinterested in anything he had to say.

When he figured out that he did not make her like him more by speaking without a break for more than an hour, he had just vomited on Snape’s shoes.

The fact that he tried to kiss her earlier and she was genuinely disgusted by him was way worse than any detention Snape could have given him.

* * *

“I’m sorry.”

The voice startled Hermione. When she turned, McLaggen was standing there.

“I misinterpreted the situation at the Christmas party. I should not have tried to kiss you. I am genuinely sorry. I’m also sorry for never shutting up.” His smile was slightly crooked.

“It’s alright, it was still a nice evening,” Hermione tried to reassure him.

“Was it though? For you?” He scratched his neck while trying to look disinterested.

“Sure.” No, absolutely not. But when McLaggen actually makes the effort to apologise, something Hermione would never have expected from the arrogant Gryffindor, laughing in his face would probably be considered rude.

McLaggen seemed to be able to read her thoughts though.

“I’m also sorry for sounding like the most arrogant man to have ever walked the earth.” The crooked smile was a bit wider now.

Before Hermione knew what to reply, he was gone.

She was unsure how to feel about this new development.

* * *

It took Cormac a while to figure out why their kiss had been as horrible as it was - Hermione was not the least bit interested in him. It was as easy as that. 

* * *

The Quidditch match was an absolute catastrophe. A disaster. It was actually painful to watch, even for Hermione who was not very well versed in the finer intricacies of the sport. 

McLaggen seemed to be trying to boss his teammates around and the result was chaos. 

When Harry went down after McLaggen hit him, though at least that had obviously been an accident, Hermione was done with Quidditch for the day. 

* * *

“Could you look sadder if you tried?” A female voice asked him when he sat in the library, hiding from his housemates, staring out of the window. 

It was Hermione. 

Of course it was. 

“They banned me from the team,” his voice was almost a whisper. If he did not say it too loudly, maybe it would not be true?

Hermione nodded. “I already heard. Be glad it’s just that. They were out for your blood.”

At her comment of it being “just that” Cormac threw her a dirty look. 

“I wanted to win so badly. And I really thought I could help…” even to his own ears he sounded sheepish and pathetic. 

“What’s done is done.” Was all Hermione offered. 

But instead of walking away to one of the empty tables, she put her books two spaces down from his and sat down. 

Finally, something good was happening.

* * *

Since McLaggen had been thrown from the team the sadness had radiated from him. 

She could understand it, to an extent. If she imagined not being able to read for months, she would be devastated as well. 

So when she saw him alone in the library again, she decided to at least try and cheer him up. 

Just a tiny bit. 

* * *

She genuinely had no idea when she started liking Cormac. 

It was just there at some point. 

Hell, she was not even sure when she had actually started to refer to him as Cormac and not as McLaggen.

And he seemed to like her as well. 

Hermione was actually looking a tiny bit forward to spending time with Cormac now and they decided to study together. Of course, Hermione was a year behind him, but neither really minded. 

* * *

It could have continued like this, them meeting up almost daily to study and enjoy each other’s presence, if Cormac had not realised that he would not be back after the summer.

The weather was finally holding up so that they could actually go outside to study, and that’s where they went. 

Not everything was different from the beginning of the year. 

Especially not Cormac. He still talked a lot, mostly about himself, but Hermione had long ago realised that he was trying to impress her and had no idea just how unlikeable he sounded. 

Today he was unusually silent though. 

“What’s going on in your head?” Hermione wondered out loud. 

“Do you remember the Christmas party?” He asked. 

“Of course.” A cold shudder ran down her back. The horrible party. 

“I really thought it was a date.”

“Oh.”

Cormac laughed. “Yeah, I quickly figured afterwards that was not what you were after.”

“I’m really sorry, Cormac. But it definitely wasn’t. I couldn’t stand you.” Hermione replied, just a tad hesitantly, afraid of hurting his feelings. 

Instead he smirked. 

“I figured as much,” his lips twitched even further upwards, “but I wondered something.”

“And what did you wonder?” She asked curiously. 

That had been what he had been waiting for. Hoping that this was no mistake and that this was actually what he thought it was, he leaned his head close and kissed Hermione Granger. 

The kiss was almost as unexpected for Hermione as their first one had been. 

But everything about it was different. 

Hermione did not notice anything besides Cormac’s warm, full lips that pressed against hers. After a second she moved her lips, hesitantly, against his. 

After another blissful second they broke apart. 

“That was… wow…” Cormac said, staring at her. 

“It was.” Hermione just agreed, eyes fixed on his lips. 

Their first kiss was a disaster. 

Their second was quite the opposite. And no one was quite as pleased about this as Hermione Granger and Cormac McLaggen. 


End file.
